


Show Me A Magic Trick

by SlytherinPride2292



Series: Penguin Imagines / One Shots [2]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, M/M, Oswald Cobblepot and Reader, Penguin and Reader, Pro-Nygmobblepot, Slight Nygmobblepot mention, Sly reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 13:25:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18250751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlytherinPride2292/pseuds/SlytherinPride2292
Summary: Oswald Cobblepot runs a casino; you work there as his card-dealing associate. Rough characters come to steal from the casino via counting cards, but you're onto their games, playing a few of your own. He notices you, and while he's not interested in magic tricks, per se, he is interested in its magician ;)





	Show Me A Magic Trick

 

Oswald was not interested in magic tricks. He neither cared for the illusions nor did he pay much attention to the fascination behind the eye tricks...that was until he started running his own casino.

 _Magicians_ , he thought with a scoff.

Congenial—conventionally one in the same, a dime a dozen—and not a single one was worth its payment.

That was until he saw _you_.

You worked in the casino, but that was not to say he had hired you himself. A general did little in recognizing every foot soldier, and thereby, you had only caught his eye as if by happenstance.

Like his other associates that worked for him, you were dressed in the black-and-white uniform, imitating much like his original sense of extravagant fashion while still appearing like a common part of the rabble. Your hair was dolled up, makeup on just ‘ _so’_ and you worked at a table, primarily Black Jack.

That was your table. It was your game.

Penguin’s Casino was no more corrupt than some of the slime balls that came to play; so naturally, you played your crooked tricks as you had been trained except your tricks were less obvious. Flirting and playing distractedly coy wasn’t your game; you liked magic tricks.

Slip an Ace out from the deck when you knew the gamblers were counting cards; put out a random King of Hearts when they were expecting a ten of Spades or even a two of Diamonds.

They wanted to play the system? They were better off cheating on their taxes than tangling with the likes of you.

Every now and then, a wisecracker would come in and try to outsmart you, but you were always one step ahead.

Penguin noticed.

You came out with the most tokens, you saved him the most pennies; that was something eye-catching; your beauty was just a second-baller.

Just as you had called the Bouncer to kick another Counter out of your game (and therefore out of the building), you were graced with Penguin’s presence not a second after.

He approached you.

Raven hair, a slight fringe that was combed back and stiffened with a combination of mousse, gel, and hair spray. Wearing a black suit, gold and ocean blue tie that bedazzled the moment he approached you under the high beams of the fluorescent lights.

Oswald Cobblepot was beautiful.

You knew that.

_Did he?_

“What does that bring you to?” Oswald asked, smiling at you. 

“Sorry?”

He gestured to the cash counter behind your desk center, a small tap of his cane against its wooden undercarriage.

“‘Bout six figures,” You answered dutifully. With a small sly smile: “and about fifty cents.”

“It is very seldom I have change.”

“He spent his parking meter change—thought that would buy him extra time, but really it cost him the game, and what likely will be more important, his car.”

“Sounds more like a loss.”

“Only if you look at it in his perspective,” You stated apathetically.

Your lack of empathy for the card-counter’s overall loss and what was ultimately his gain struck a pleasant chord in Oswald, so much that he genuinely smiled.

 _Amused_.

“What’s your name?” He asked.

“Does that really matter?”

“To me, it does.”

You tell him your name.

He smiles again: _Flattered._  

“How long have you been working here?”

“At this post?”

“In this establishment,” He corrects you almost immediately.

“About two months.”

He frowns. He’s only _now_ recognized you for your impressive feat. Now he seems more or less embarrassed for asking, but you smile, unabashed.

“I’ve noticed your magic tricks,” Oswald cares to change the subject, to avoid any further humility on his part.

As a point, you shuffle the deck and pull out an Ace of Spades, handing it to him. He takes it, more or less to appease you for his previous humiliation and hope that this small gesture will do.

“Why did you give me this?” He asks.

“That’s me,” You tell him, pointing at the card.

“Pardon?”

“I’m your Ace in the Hole. Metaphorically speaking.”

“In what other way could it be?”

“Physically speaking.”

He blushes bright pink at your blunt, however, brave pass at him. It isn’t often that he receives such straightforward attention; every now and then he gets a small gesture or an eye looking at him a certain way, but yours is the most direct.

Embarrassed, although in a way he prefers more, he hands you the card.

“Show me a magic trick.” He says.

“What type do you want to see?”

“Whatever it is you use against my clientele.”

“That would require you to play a game. My game.”

He is humbled by your business-like response, even more puzzled by the slight retraction of your flirtatious behavior. He noticed you didn’t retract the pass itself; and that titillates him. 

He sits in front of your table, cane placed against the wooden centerpiece, hands folded over the other as you lay one card down after the other.

The game is played like any other. Innocent, for the most part. Until you notice that he has stopped playing for amusement and started playing for certain. 

He starts counting cards.

You’re onto him.

“Hit me,” he says.

He’s up to 19. He’s expecting an Ace or a 2. You do your thing; unknown to him, you’ve already slipped the cards under the deck, rather than up your sleeve as most movie and tv show enthusiastic gamblers try to protest.

When you reveal the card as a Jack of Clubs, you tap your forefinger on its suit and say politely, “That’s a bust, sir.”

“And, where are they?” He asks, knowing the cards were suppose to be there.

You reveal to him that the cards have been in the deck this entire time.

“Subtle,” Oswald notes, smiling at you. “I was watching for it.”

“I’m very subtle,” You tell him.

“How subtle are you in other games?”

“‘Russian Roulette’ is a gamble in itself; I don’t play ‘craps’ myself, to be honest.”

“ _What_ games, then?”

“I have a handy trick when it comes to ‘War’ and ‘Old Maid’.”

He stares at you for a whole minute before realizing that you were joking. 

“That’s quite a magic trick.”

“Thank you.”

He takes his cane from the table, fully entertained. Then he admits to you that he is not particularly fond of magic.

“Then why did you do all this?” You ask him, referring to his time spent with you rather than going to one of his monotonous meetings or attending a one-on-one riddle-thon with one of his more extraordinary companions.

“You have me all wrong,” Oswald reassures. “I have no interest in magic—in fact, for the most part, it bores me. Magicians on the other hand” (you smile as he nods admirably in your direction) “are quite a different subject, altogether.”

He holds out his hand; you take it, and he kisses the back of your hand as soft as subtlety can allow it. There’s a small spark in your heart and a flicker of his own appeal gleams from his eyes.

“I’ll play another game this afternoon.” He reassures you. “But this time, I intend to win.”

“I’ll be sure that you won’t.” You respond with a challenging smile, and he chuckles as he leaves.

But as you continue to befuddle your players and watch the bouncers escort angry customers out from your table and the casino, Oswald glances back in your direction.

Never a riddle has ever intrigued him more than when Ed Nygma came into his life. Never a magic trick ever bedazzles him more than when he noticed you.

Fate had her way of bringing people into his life in ways he never considered before. 

 


End file.
